Analysis of Various DNA Barcodes on the Turkish Protected Designation of Origin Apricot “Iğdır Kayısısı” (Prunus armeniaca cv. Şalak)

Identifying the originality and detecting the authentication of the processed and unprocessed commercial food products ensure food safety. Food adulteration of food products with high commercial value by cheap additives could threaten human health. In this study, we generated and tested five DNA barcodes (ITS, LEAFY, matK, rbcL, ycf1) of the Turkish Protected Designation of Origin Apricot “Igdir Kayisisi” (Prunus armeniaca cv. Şalak) with related primer pairs. The generated barcodes were deposited on the GenBank database. The results showed that nuclear originated ITS and LEAFY barcodes discriminated the Prunus species and cultivars better than the plastidial barcodes. Due to plenty of ITS barcodes on the databases, and good results in our study we recommend using ITS to identify Prunus species and cultivars.